Sunday, September 28, 2014

Sashiko Inspiration

Best Friends Forever Month 5.4

Back in July I was just starting Month 5 of Best Friends Forever, and looking for a new way to fill in the large circle in the centre of this motif, when my blogging friend Jillian took a class on Kantha embroidery. The criss crossing running stitch of that technique reminded me of some Japanese sashiko stitch designs:


I reviewed this book back in 2012. I decided to try out one of my favourite sashiko patterns for this motif. The grid was marked with a water erasable marker:


I stitched around the circle with stem stitch first.  This gave me an anchor for the lines of sashiko:


The stitches look loose here because I tried to blot out the blue ink before I took the photo. Not very well! But they are fine after a proper rinse. The back is cute too:


You can see how I was able to weave the ends into the stem stitch border.

This was the first part of Month 5 to be stitched, and then the motif languished while I stitched all the others. I really was low on ideas on how to colour and stitch the rest of it. In the end it is a little different - the first motif that doesn't have any yellow - and I am satisfied with it.

Plus, after my six week holiday from this project, I am refreshed and full of new ideas for Month 6! Three months left. :)

7 comments:

  1. How cool is that! It's a great centre - really works with the design. The whole thing is so unified and fresh. I agree the back looks pretty good to - might think about putting that into a Kantha design when I grow up.

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    1. Young at heart, Jillian, young at heart! Thanks for the inspiration -- it's fun to see where it starts sometimes, isn't it?

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  2. the centre has worked so very well and the finished piece looks lovely

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  3. Perfection as usual. I have several books on sashiko as well. My attempts at it were not very good. Well, let's be honest. They were horrible. But I haven't put the time in on learning the skill, so I guess the poor results are predictable. Inspiration can come from many sources and this turned out really well.

    By the way, I was able to find a copy of "Primitive Quilts" at Jo Ann's. Jacks and Cats is on my to do list. Probably will do a smaller version of nine blocks - four cats and five wonky log cabins or vice versa - in normal quiling cottons and/or homespuns. Like you, I doubt I could find a variety of orange flannels, even for my smaller version. Plus there is a smallish project that I also like. It's the one with the apples and barn on p. 11. No velvet for me, though.

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  4. Great choice for the center of your motif. Beautiful front and impressively tidy back.

    Interesting how sashiko comes to the rescue. I just finished a set of placemats where I was at a loss as to how to fill in the corner sections; I also found inspiration in my sashiko books. After checking out your 2012 blog on sashiko, I decided one can never have too many reference books, so off to Amazon I go. Thanks for the review.

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    1. Thank you! I like this book so much because it is completely authentic, published by NHK and written for a Japanese audience first, and only later translated into English. I hope you can find a deal!

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  5. That looks interesting! I have never done sashiko.

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I'm told Blogger has been bouncing some comments, so if it happens to you I'm sorry! But the settings look right so I can't explain it. In any case, thanks for reading!

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